WATCH ABOVE: Pequeno’s 18-month-old son – the surviving twin – previously went everywhere with the bear. Amy Frazier reports.
TORONTO – An Oregon mom is desperate to get back a missing teddy bear that contains a locket with her daughter’s ashes inside.
Salem native Sarah Pequeno, 20, gave birth to twins in 2013 – a boy and a girl – three months premature. Unfortunately, her daughter Ayah only lived four days.
“It was really hard,” Pequeno told KOIN’s Amy Frazier. “I mean, I held her when she took her last breath.”
According to Frazier’s report, Pequeno’s son Isaiah was given a teddy bear while he spent approximately four-and-a-half months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Not only was the bear named after Isaiah’s twin sister, after her death, the funeral home suggested putting some of her ashes inside Isaiah’s bear – so he could still be close to her.
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A portion of the ashes were placed inside a heart-shaped locket – which was put inside the teddy.
“It’s special because it has a part of Ayah in the locket of the bear. It’s like a piece of her that’s always going to be with him, wherever he goes,” Pequeno said.
But a medical appointment Tuesday changed everything. Pequeno believes the bear was lost on their way home from the appointment.
Desperate, she eventually turned to Facebook to plea for help in finding the stuffed toy.
With tears flowing down her face, the young mother summed up the reality of the situation in a CBS report.
“I can probably buy him a new bear but I can never get the piece back,” she said. “I know he probably cares about the bear, but I just want what’s in the locket.”
As of Thursday, one neighbour has come forward telling Pequeno that they saw the bear on a sidewalk – but never picked it up.
In the meantime, Pequeno’s husband Joseph Perez has been reminding her to have faith, and not to give up the search.
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